For a long time, Excel was a widely used tool in the production of statistics, graphs, and reports. However, as much as it is a robust program, technology has advanced so much that it has become ineffective in many scenarios. It was in this context that the Power BI dashboard emerged.
In fact, a dashboard is not the same as a report, although both are related. Throughout the text, we will explain this difference, in addition to showing the 5 steps in creating a dashboard in Power BI, which is also a Microsoft program, just like Excel. Keep reading!
What is the Power BI dashboard?
The idea behind a Power BI dashboard is to simply and intuitively show a specific answer that the manager or team wants to get. For example, imagine that you want to understand what made sales in a period below expectations. Viewing the dashboard, it is possible to make a correlation between the bad result and some internal processes that proved to be inefficient, since data from all sectors of the company can be seen on the dashboard.
What is it for?
Companies need to have an increasingly clinical look at data, as it is in them that business intelligence is obtained. The dashboard is of paramount importance in this sense, as it allows not only a simplified view of scenarios but also the updating of information in real-time. In short, the dashboard is a key part of digital transformation, business innovation, and the implementation of a Data-Driven culture.
How does it work?
Different sectors of the company contribute to building dashboards in Power BI. In practice, no data is inaccessible, and this is the key for the manager to make the best decisions and understand what can lead the business to perform less than expected in certain periods.
What are the types of dashboards?
In Power BI, dashboards can be of three types:
- Operational: needs to be updated several times during the day, as it shows how the company is operating at this very moment, presenting performance indicators and metrics;
- Strategic: visualization of this type of dashboard is usually done by company directors, who have the power to change the indicators outlined in the planning if they deem it necessary to do so;
- Analytical: allows you to analyze a large amount of data at once, in order to obtain useful insights and knowledge for the business.
How to create a dashboard in Power BI?
In the following subtopics, 5 steps will be presented for creating a dashboard in Power BI. Before that, however, it is important to answer a frequent question, which is the difference between a report and a dashboard. A feature that distinguishes both tools is that the first works statically while the second is dynamic, allowing constant updates — mainly the operational type.
As it is static, the report shows information about a specific period, such as sales volume and business revenue. The dashboard, on the other hand, usually presents metrics, with the intention of guiding faster decisions by managers.
Database insertion
After logging into Power BI, it’s time to feed the dashboard with data. Excel spreadsheets, web sources, and databases are just a few sources that can serve in this process, as well as records in a variety of formats. With the “Get data” button, you must choose which file from the list will be used in the construction of the dashboard.
If the source is a spreadsheet, the tool will show all its tabs, so that they can be selected to proceed with the work. This is done by clicking on the checkbox next to the name of the tab. Depending on what you want to do, Power BI allows both the loading of data on the screen and the transformation, which is the preliminary treatment of the records before going to the dashboard.
Title insertion
At the top of the screen, there is an option called “Text Box”, which allows you to insert a title into the dashboard. In addition to the title, you can make various visual settings, such as the color scheme, and set the background color. The title text may undergo, among other things, font, size, and alignment changes.
Inserting cards
On the right side of the screen, there are several viewing options, one of which is the card. Once it has been loaded in the center of the screen, it is possible to insert the data that will be part of the dashboard, such as sales, billing, and performance of each sector of the company. If you want, you can apply various formatting to the card, such as background color and size.
Insertion of graphics
In the same place where the card was taken, the visualization of the dashboard can also be obtained by means of a graph. From there, it can be fed with data from the worksheet and formatted, just like the title and the card. The idea, therefore, is to place the graphs below the cards, as this facilitates the visualization and understanding of the data.
Filter insertion and examples of Power BI dashboards
Also in the view menu on the right of the screen is the filter. With it, it is possible to recover a specific set of data, in addition to formatting that makes the panel more visual and interactive. With this last step, you now have a ready-made Power BI dashboard that helps managers and employees quickly find specific answers to a question.
Some examples of dashboards that can be built are:
industry analysis—such as HR, accounting, finance, and marketing;
customer profile;
stock check.
How can BRQ help?
BRQ has a specific solution that helps in decision-making and answers business questions. With the help of our Advanced Analytics, we operate from end to end in the corporate customer’s data journey, with the intention of centralizing data, but without neglecting governance. We work by uniting culture, strategy, people, processes, technology, and architecture, with a view to the evolution of the business.
The Power BI dashboard is a powerful way to visualize business data in a centralized dashboard. It is a solution capable of helping companies to continuously improve their strategies and obtain business knowledge from their data.
Read our Aura case below, and learn about BRQ’s solutions, and get your questions answered by one of our specialists, contact us!
